Ihtiman

Ihtiman (Bulgarian: Ихтиман) is a town in western Bulgaria, part of Sofia Province. It is located in the Ihtimanska Sredna Gora mountains and lies in a valley 48 km from Sofia and 95 km from Plovdiv, close to Trakiya motorway. Formerly a Roman defensive station guarding the important roads to the Bosphorus, Ihtiman was then called Stipon. It continued to play this role under the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire, which however shifted its main defensive centre in the region to the Gate of Trajan hill pass. Following the Ottoman invasion in the 14th century, the town's name was changed to Ihtiman, which is thought to be of Ottoman Turkish origin. The traditional and dominant religion is Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Area Code: + 724